Programming Sound Cards/Programming Sound Cards.iso/sound_87/vt_eng.txt

Text File | 1995-01-01 | 28KB | 720 lines

@banner.txt
-

    What is VangeliSTeam?
    ─────────────────────

    VangeliSTeam is a group of people participating, continiously or
sporadicly in programming, design and manteniance of VangeliSTracker program.

    The reasons for us to create this group are the next ones :

*     Widely spread the methods, formats, routines and so, of making
      digital music, in both user and programmer level.

*     Joining qualified people that help us in the developement of
      VangeliSTracker program.

*     Learn something (Everybody). ;-)

    To make that possible the program will be distributed in running and
source code, being both of them public domain or freeware. However, is
an express desire of VangeliSTeam to make you know that this piece of
software is under the protection of Copyright laws.

    Anyone who wants it, can make his own modifications to the program,
use it for his own purpouses and include the routines in his own programs
always that you clearly remark the procedence of them. Any of this
options is considered as enough:

*     If you use  the  sources in  your own programs, you  must  write
      somewhere where it  can be  seen, something  like : "Portions (C)
      VangeliSTeam" or "Using sound system of  VangeliSTracker vX.X" or
      something alike.

*     If you include the whole VangeliSTracker in a program of your own,
      you must include the whole running version.

    Anyway, you are encouraged to inform us of any modification made to
the program or any of its routines, in order to include them in the next
official release.

-

    Who is VangeliSTeam?
    ────────────────────

    VangeliSTeam is everybody. :-)

    Well, actually, VangeliSTeam is made of all those persons participating,
in one or other way, in programming, design and so, of VangeliSTracker.

    Until this release, there is just one really active person (Juan
Carlos Arévalo, that's me ;-), and some other people interested or working in
the program. I am NOT going to tell anybody what to do. What I hope is that
you tell me what do you want to do, and I just will try to put togeter
everyone working in the same area.

    If you want to discuss, propose, send, receive or just talk about
VangeliSTracker or VangeliSTeam, please, do not hesitate and contact one
of the persons shown below:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                        CONTACT POINTS                        ║
@Contacts.txt

-

    Up to date, VangeliSTeam is taking advantage of the work of this other
people:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                         COLABORATORS                         ║
╟───────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────╢
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Juan Carlos Arévalo    │ Father of the creature. Program's║
║                           │ body and general structure.      ║
║                           │ First releases.                  ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Luis Crespo            │ Program's predecessor (JAMP).    ║
║                           │ DMA routines. Sound Blaster Info.║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Félix Sanz             │ User DOCs.                       ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Alejandro López        │ Original stereo channel mixing   ║
║                           │ idea.                            ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Héctor Martínez        │ FFT routines. (not implemented   ║
║                           │ yet).                            ║
║                           │ Original four channel handling   ║
║                           │ system idea.                     ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - David López            │ SB-Pro stereo information.       ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Angel Trigo            │ SB-Pro stereo information.       ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - José Ruiz              │ Now working on OS/2 version      ║
║                           │ (True OS/2 ;-)                   ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Manuel Petit           │ Now fitting a mouse driver.      ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Carlos Fernández       │ Made a modification in the       ║
║                           │ swapping system, to make it work ║
║                           │ on CD-ROMS.                      ║
║                           │                                  ║
║  - Néstor Matas           │ Translation of this manual into  ║
║                           │ English.                         ║
║                           │                                  ║
╚═══════════════════════════╧══════════════════════════════════╝

    Thanks goes to Carlos Jiménez for owning a SB Pro 2.0, and lending it for
some experiments (just testing... :-).

    Thanks goes to Javier Olmo, for being the owner of a SB 16 and lending it
for testing.

    Thanks goes to Michael Fulbright, for adapting a SB driver for OS/2, and
for making it accesible from a DOS session.

    Thanks goes to Steve Haehnichen for making a SB driver for UNIX BSD, in
which Michael Fulbright based his own driver.

    Thanks goes to Francisco Carrascosa for being so tiresome (wish everybody
was that way ;-D

-

    Thanks goes to Antonio Ropero, for owning a Covox Sound Master II, and
stoically stand not having the DMA driver. In the next release I promise, I
swear that ...  O;-)

    Thanks also to the Future Crew people, for making such good music and
demos.

    Likewise, we wish to thank all those people that, in one or other way,
had contributed to this.

    Thank you:

@ThankYou.Txt

    Also thanks to the whole staff of Anyware S.A. for standing the testing
made in their computers, and thanks to all the people I forgot to mention in
the list. :-(


    System requierements.
    ─────────────────────

*     PC computer or compatible, with 286 processor or higher.
*     When using OS/2, Michael Fulbright driver requiered.
*     VGA or EGA graphics card.
*     Around 230 Kb free RAM + module lenght.
      Around 140 Kb in case you use ShellVT.
*     An EMS driver, in case of using swapping.
*     1 or 2 paralell ports, when using DAC.
*     One of this cards, if requiered by the user:
*        Covox Sound Master II card, Intersound MDO or similar.
*        Any version of SoundBlaster card.
*        AdLib sound card or compatible.

    To make it work, you will need some music files in one of .MOD, .WOW,
.OKT, .STM, .S3M or .669 formats.

    Connect your device to the computer !!!!!! :-)

    ...yes, but, what is the DAC?

    A DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), is a built of DAC chips or resistors
that, connected to the parallel port, is able to playback digital sounds
through an amplifier. Later on, under the title of "How to build a homemade
DAC", you will find a diagram and some directions on building one. The sound
quality provided by one of this gadgets is similar to that found in any
commercial cards, but avoiding the peculiar bus noise of Sound Blaster or
Covox SM II cards (so it's better).


    Actual program features.
    ────────────────────────

    Up to date (see the date at the end ;-), the program seems to have this
features:

-
      MODULES

*     Is able to play modules in Amiga's SoundTracker and NoiseTracker
      (and compatibles) programs format (.MOD). It handles 15 and 31
      voices modules with both marks "M.K." and "FLT4". It can play also,
      .WOW format modules (Grave Program), 6 and 8 channel .MOD (from
      Triton Fast Tracker), .OKT (Amiga's Oktalizer), Scream Tracker 2.x,
      Scream Tracker 3.0 and Composer 669 (PC).
      It still does not
      handle JMPlayer, 670, Amiga's Oktamed nor StarTrekker formats.

*     It implements a subset of Amiga's Prototracker program, musical
      capabilities, which allows almost every module to be played in an
      adequate way (All the modules tested did). If you find any module
      that can't be played or sounds bad, contact us (sending the module, of
      course) and we will do whatever is posible to fix the problem.


      SOUND DEVICES

*     Is able to play modules in various sound devices :
*        PC Speaker (Ouch! Not widely recomended :-).
*        Any availabe DAC in the I/O port map (including cards like Covox,
         Intersound-MDO, homemade DACs in paralell port, and so).
*        Sound Blaster or compatible and AdLib or compatible (not always).
*        Visha speech card.
*        Apart, for woking under OS/2, Michael Fulbright's driver can be used.

*     For stereo sound, it allows the use of Sound Blaster Pro, Sound
      Blaster 16 ASP, two DACs or one DAC and SoundBlaster in mono mode.
      Also, it implements two different ways of channel mixinf that
      enhances the stereo sound quality, especially when using headphones.

*     To play sounds in Sound Blaster card there are two methods: using DMA
      or not using DMA.

*     Also implements several kinds of software-made digital filters.


      THE SCREEN

*     To use VangeliSTracker you will need a VGA or compatible video card.
      It works with EGA too, but it won't in future versions.

*     The windows contain: Module information, real time four channel
      description, sample list, oscilloscope, menu, track (music sheet,
      two sizes) and credits.

-

      WORKING

*     The program does not works in interactive mode... yet. That means that
      you can use it just as you would use a DOS line command.

*     The program can perform some actions while playing music : Shell to DOS
      ( the music will continue playing ), activate or desactivate any of
      the sound channels, fast forward and rewind the song, change the
      sampling rate, rise or lower the music volume or change the filters.

*     In the config file you can define a program to execute instead of
      COMMAND.COM when shelling.

*     If you rise the sampling rate over the program capabilities, it will
      automatically reduce it downto an adequate level (fall-back).

*     When jumping from one song to the next, a fade-out option is available.

*     The program uses EMS swapping (if available) and disk swapping.

*     The program will use the free UMB area, if any, if it's MS-DOS 5.0
      compatible.


    Undesirable, known features.
    ─────────────────────────────

    As everybody knows, no one (and nothing) is perfect. VangeliSTracker is
not an exception to the rule and so, it has some known and unknown bugs.
Here is a relation of all the known bugs. If you find any other, have no
doubt about telling us, in order to attach it to the list or simply fix it.
 ;-)

*     Sometimes, you may find DOS Shell problems. A matter of stack. The
      stack use has been reduced down to 150 bytes, but it could give
      problems when forcing the sampling rate over the machine capabilities.

*     Sometimes, the program does not work when local area network drivers are
      present (Ethernet or similar).

*     If you have any memory handler loaded in memory that uses 386 virtual
      mode (like QEMM386, EMM386, 386Max, and so) the program will slow down.
      If you don't use DMA, it will work properly but it won't be able to
      handle very high sampling rates. If you use DMA in a non fast machine
      (386-25Mhz is a non fast machine), and you are using a sound card
      different from SB 16, the program will reverberate a little bit (not
      much: the music will be heard all right, but it can be kind of annoying
      with some .MODs, especially if they contain high pitch instruments).

*     When using multitaskers (OS/2 2.0, Windows, Desqview, and so) the
      program may work (not always), but just in DMA mode and gargling a lot
      (a strong reberveration). In all of them, the "File" driver always
      work, dumping the sound output to the file SBDSP$.

-

*     When Shelling to DOS, the program will use an ammount of RAM of
      230 Kb plus the module lenght. To save memory, use ShellVT.

*     The automatic fall-back, sometimes, goes over or do not reach the
      desired value. Is very difficult to get the machine to do this
      accurately. :-(

*     The program recognizes modules with instruments bigger than 64 Kb, but
      it will truncate them to 64 Kb.

*     The Adlib driver sounds at a very low volume, and too noisy. In some
      sound cards you will notice a strong wishtling, but is not the case
      of Sound Blaster nor AdLib. :-)

*     If you use the OS/2 driver (File), what you will get on the screen
      will have nothing to do with what you hear. Lack of sincronism...
      The keyboard won't work properly either. In this case, we recommend
      you the use of OS2VT.EXE .

*     The memory swapping is not widely tested yet.


    Future features in the program.
    ───────────────────────────────

    VangeliSTracker is a beginner. By now it just works and nothing else but
we pretend to make it grow to reaching goals like:

*     Support for more module formats (670, Oktamed, StarTrekker and so).

*     Support for other sound devices (SBPro 3.0 in 16 bits mode, Pro Audio
      Spectrum, Disney SS, Covox in DMA mode, and so). If someone make the
      driver or lend us one of this cards, we will be ethernally grateful.

*     Increase the program posibilities with: song edition and composition,
      digital sound and instrument edition and processing, MIDI support,
      as well as everything we can machinate.

    Remember: all of this won't be possible without your colaboration. We
need ideas, beta-testers, critcs and labour ;-).

-

    Next release. (2.X)
    ───────────────────

    In next version 2.0a of VT we hope to implement :

*     Simple interactive mode (choose a module within a menu...).

*     More windows: 10 oscilloscopes (one per channel), real volume bars,
      Spectrum analizer, instrument analizer, DOS shell in a window
      (yeah, yeah, ain't no joke. If you want to see how it will look like,
      press F9).

*     Mouse support.


    Command line options.
    ─────────────────────

    VT sintax can be seen by running the program without parameters. You can
save it in a file, rerouting the output if you want: 'VT > VTOPT.TXT'.

    The syntax of ShellVT and OS2VT is exactly the same.


    Option switch files (.VTO)
    ──────────────────────────

    You can specify parameters in ASCII files, using the same syntax as in
the command line. They are used preceding the file name with an at-sign (@).
For example:

    VT @UNREAL.VTO

    For more information, look into the example .VTO files included.


    Config file.
    ────────────

    VT has a configuration file, called VT.CFG. This file contains some
options that modifies the internal working of the program. The file is ASCII,
so it can be modified with any editor o word processing software. If you
want to know the available options, please feel free to examine it, and
read the comments inside it.

    By default, the config file will be loaded from the VT.EXE directory
but if the search fails, VT will look for it in the current directory.

    SHELLVT.EXE program will read VT.CFG file and then, SHELLVT.CFG, where
you can redefine every single parameter.

-

    Interface. VT Screen.
    ─────────────────────

    The screen is in text mode, and presents this aspect:

@Screen.Txt

    Where each part is:

*     Position  :  Is the actual position within the song. It also shows the
      total lenght of the module.

*     Pattern  :  Shows the pattern currently being played, and the total
      number of them. Normally there is less patterns than positions in a
      module, that is possible becouse some of them are repeated.

-

*     Note  :  Shows the note currently being played, the ordinal number
      is refered to the actual pattern. Also, it shows the size of the pattern.

*     Tempo  :  Is the actual tempo of the melody, but it can change
      if the author used the appropiate command.

*     Module :  Is the song loaded and playing, shows the title or name
      that the author gave to the theme.

*     File  :  Is the file name containig the song.

*     Free mem.  :  Internal values, shown just for debuggin reasons.

*     Outp. freq.  :  Shows the music output rate, in Hertzs.

*     (1)  :  This area shows the instrument being used by each one of the
      four visible channels. At left hand you can see the channel number.

*     frec  :  Shows the pitch of each note being played by each visible
      channel.

*     vl  :  Is the playback volume of this particular instrument.

*     len  :  Is the lenght in bytes of the digitized instrument.

*     (2)  :  This area shows the volume vumeters for each visible channel.

*     (7)  :  Channel Status zone. It shows if the corresponding channel
      is ON or OFF.

*     (3)  :  Module instrument list. Name and number. This part of the
      screen will be overlayed when selecting oscilloscope window.

*     (4)  :  Shows the notes that have just being played in the pattern
      para the visible channels.

*     (5)  :  Shows the note being currently played for the visible channels.

*     (6)  :  Shows the notes to be played next in the pattern for the
      visible channels.

-

    The keyboard.
    ─────────────

    This is a relation of the keys you may use and a brief description of
them.

*     Page Up and Page Down  :  It moves to the preceding or to the next
      pattern in the module, but positioning in the same note number, not at
      the beginning of the pattern, as other programs do.

*     Home and End  :  Like PgUp & PgDn, but positioning at the beginning
      of the pattern.

*     Left and Right arrows  :  Left or right scrolling of the visible channels.
      This has been made this way to be able to see up to 10 channels
      respecting the old screen format, made to handle just 4 voices.

*     1 - 0  :  Activates or desactivates the corresponding channel ('0'
      means 10).

*     F5  :  Shows the track in large size. You will only see the track
      and the four or five first lines of the original screen.

*     F6  :  Returns to regular size track mode.

*     F7  :  Oscilloscope, show a graphic of the analog waveform currently
      being played. It ovelays instrument list in zone (3).

*     F8  :  Credits. Shows the list of the people that have took part in the
      creation of the program.

*     R and T  :  Lower or rises the output rate of the module. When using
      PC speaker device, at low rates you will notice some distortion. If
      you use Sound Blaster with DMA, the rate will be limited internally by
      the card, so if you try to go over the limit, the program won't let
      you do that.

*     F and G  :  Activates, desactivates the filter. ON and OFF .

*     L  :  Switches the bass enhancing filter. Only works in mono devices,
      and not with the "File" device.

*     W and E  :  Increases and decreases the song's tempo.

*     + and -  :  Main volume control.

*     B  :  Changes the vu-meter aspect.

*     D  :  DOS Shell. To return to VT, enter EXIT at the DOS prompt.

*     N  :  Jumps to next module if any. Fades-out, if this feature is
      enabled in the config file.

*     S  :  Fast jump to next module.

*     ESC  :  Stops playing the module and quit the program, returning to
      the operating system.

-

    General Remarks.
    ────────────────

    If you try to play a non valid format file, VT will just flash and skip it.

    When shelling from VT, no jump to the next module will be made until
exiting the shell and returning to the program.


    Sound Blaster.
    ──────────────

    The way Sound Blaster card works deserves a special mention. There are
two methods of playing modules through Sound Blaster card. One is the way
used by programs like ModPlay, Whacker Tracker or JAMP. This method consist
of sending between 6000 and 44000 samples (numbers) per second to the card
Hand made!!. The other uses SB DMA support. The former has the advantage of
reaching as-high-as-we-want sampling rates, higher than those allowed by
Sound Blaster 1.5 DMA. The latter, instead, allow us to play modules in
slow machines (286 a 8 o 12 MHz), and run the program under multitaskers
like Desqview or Windows (although, by now, it does not sound well under
multitasker programs, only under OS/2 using the driver).

    What is really special about VT is the handling of the first method:
not using DMA. It shouldn't be a real problem : In fact, that is the only
way to make the PC speaker say something :-( or to get the DAC working.
But the problem is that Sound Blaster wasn't build to work this way and,
so, it is harder to find the way, and when you finally get something it
goes turtle step (and does not allow very hihg sampling rates).

    VT uses a special method to speed up the card under this mode. To make
it possible, we use the variable SbSplTimeout. Give different values to it
till you find the right one. A very high value, (like 50, for example) make
the SB to work like it would do with any other program (slowly). A very low
value, (1, for example) speeds up SB card, but you may not hear anything
:-(. Let's give an example, in a 386-25 non cache computer, and using SB 2.0,
the right value will be between 3 and 4, depending on which SB mode you are
using: mono or DAC-SB stereo.

-

    How to build a homemade DAC.
    ────────────────────────────

    You'll need:

*     A D-25 pin male connector.
*     Nine wire cable.
*     A base for the circuit. A bakelite plaque, a cardboard ...
*     9 10K resistors, 1% tollerance.
*     9 20K resistors, 1% tollerance.
*     One 100nF ceramic capacitor.
*     One 10nF ceramic capacitor.
*     One shielded cable.
*     One RCA or normal jack, depending on the amplifier you use.

    The resistors must be 1% tollerance, to avoid noise. If you can't find
10K and 20K, buy similar values, but one must be two times the other.

    The capacitors may not be nedeed, but it will sound better with them.

@dac.txt

    This circuit, extracted from Visual Player 1.1 documents, is an
enhancement of that contained in Mark J.Cox's ModPlay, so we thank Mark J.Cox
for his original design and also to the Visual Player team for the enhancement
and the permission to use it.

-

    Working under OS/2.
    ───────────────────

    VT.EXE program (using File device) and OS2VT.EXE program work under
OS/2 through the Sound Blaster driver contained in SBOS2V09.*.
This file can be found at the BBSs stated below.

    The file includes the driver souce code, and some other playing and
recording utilities under OS/2, and a MOD player.


    ShellVT Program.
    ────────────────

    Along with VT.EXE and OS2VT.EXE, you'll find SHELLVT.EXE. It's a VT
version whose graphic interface has been removed, but working exactly the
same as if you run VT.EXE and the you press 'D' key. The main advantage of
this program is that it works like a background job under DOS, with lower
memory requierements than VT.EXE.


    New releases.
    ─────────────

    You can find find any new version in many Spanish BBSs, but, firstly
in:

@BBSs.txt

    The file names used will be the following:

    Exe files   :     VTEXExxx.*
    Source files:     VTSRCxxx.*

    where "xxx" stands for the version number. For example, the exe files
of 1.2b version will be named as : VTEXE12B.*

-

    The Media Vision Contest.
    ─────────────────────────

    In the March number of the Dr. Dobbs Journal for Programmers, there is
quite an interesting article about sound for the PCs. I won't copy the article
here (that would be illegal), but I can tell you about a little gray box where
it says that Media Vision (those who make the Pro Audio Spectrum cards) are
organizing a sound software contest. It looks interesting. The limit date for
the programs is 15th of July, so there's plenty of time.

    There are two drawbacks:

*     A must for any program that participates is 16 bit support using the PAS
      16 card. For this, a driver must be made, tested, etc...
*     The contest runs through Compuserve. I don't know how it works. The only
      thing I know (I've been told) is that it's expensive.
      The Media Vision guys say they've made a special conferencefor the
      contest "GO PAS16CONTEST", and that there's the "Entry Kit".

    I officially ask for help to anyone who can give it some way or the other.
Wether it's your knowledge of the PAS 16 card, or he just wants to help, or has
access to Compuserve, or wants to beautify the program for the date.

    Sincerely, I think there are possibilities of getting a prize, even if
only one of the 50 finalists.

    The prizes are: $5000, $2000 and $1000 for the first three, and $100 for
the 50 finalists. All of them in "shopping sprees".

    I don't know how we could split the prize. I wouldn't want anybody to
regret anything afterwards. If you've got any idea about this, please, say so.

-

    Donations.
    ──────────

    At first, I was not going to mention this matter, but after a few
conversations with my colleages, I decided to do it.

    This program has been donated to public domain by the reasons explained
at the beginning of this DOC. As a public domain program, you are not
requiered to pay any registration fee. I think this point is clear enough.

    But if, for any reason, you like so much this program that you can't
help yourself giving a donation (money or hardware) to those who made this
possible, well, you are free to do it. You can send any donations to:

@Address.Txt

    Anyway, we will try to use any donation in developing VT. We will also
mention in this DOC any card donation, driver donation or useful information,
that may help us to enhance the program.

    If someone can't find the source code and would like to take a look
at them, send us a self adressed, already posted (or send the stamps or
the money) envelope and one diskette (3 1/2 if possible).


    Final remarks.
    ──────────────

    We can seem to be a bit tiresome, but, please, remember this important
points:

*     We do NOT want any money. Just the credit our job deserves.

*     Is a very cheap price, a real bargain. Please pay it. ;-)

*     Please, spread this program everywhere. We want it to be known all
      along the five (I got it right this time ;-) continents.

*     If you want, can or would like to participate in the project, have
      no doubt about telling us. Don't forget that the sources are given
      to public domain too.

    Thank you everybody for your colaboration. :·)

    Greets, and enjoy it!

                                 VangeliSTeam
                             March the 31st, 1993